Used entry level Photography

[John12]

My wife and I are new divers,, just open water certified.. My wife is thrilled as am I with the possibility of entry level photo and video opportunity.. Will be diving mostly Florida. Need to save a little money because of all the equipment purchases to date.. We will take an photography course,, and realize buoyancy etc needs improving etc.

That all said we have been looking at a good used Sony DSC HX5, can get it with a housing for less than $300. Or should we wait and get a Sea Life 1400, higher priced of course, but is it worth the extra.

 

[smellzlikefish]

I don't know much about the HX-5, but as a whole above water cameras in housings tend to produce better quality images than camera designed specifically for underwater use. I think this has mostly to do with the fact that Sony, Canon, Nikon, etc. have drawn on vast resources and deep pockets from all aspects of photography and invested those into perfecting their optics. Juxtapose this with Sea Life who draws funds from only the diving community.

This is of course my opinion, but I've just never been impressed with Sea Life images.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Not sure where this reply regarding Sea & Sea came from, since it is not the same as Sea Life.

But if your main focus is UW, then ones like Sea Life has some advantage, like modes specifically for underwater, and the housing's buttons made easy to use. The big camera mfg all makes housings that are pretty low in price, thus their camera/housing combo are a better deal, but you might not have features specific for underwater, and they could have feature overload where it might get confusing when trying to access certain features while UW.

If you don't have an above water digital camera, then getting a primary one that has superior above water performance would be my primary criteria.

BTW, specialized UW imaging companies don't design and make their cameras from scratch on their own. They frequently work with other major camera mfg and add some features that they deem important. The only thing is that they don't update their product every 6 month to a year. Thus their price depreciates slower than from the ones from major mfg..meaning you can get the major brands for cheaper used.

 

[Jerry_]

I have used the Sealife cameras, as well as other housed, small size cameras for diving, even so, not the HX-5.

While owning a Sealife camera, I would currently rather go for a housed model, because the quality of the resulting pictures is much better.

What attacted me at the Sealife approach was the 'no extra housing' approach, however the features of he camera are - compared to 'traditional' camera - very poor, and so are results in comparable situations, when taking pictures.

What you might want to pay attention to is that some of the cameras propose already natively colour correction for underwater pictures (not sure about the HX-5), this avoids having to post fix this.

While you are new to OW diving, you are likely not diving down to the max limits for which the cameras or their housings are designed for, however always pay attention to the seals, especially when buying second hand.

 

[terrylowe]

I am selling a rig on ebay right now. It is more of a video rig, but I have taken some stills with it too.

JVC Picsio Underwater Dive Video Camera GC-WP10AU with Ikelite Housing | eBay